Clinton,
They come from the Greek of the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament.
The Septuagint was the translation used by the Greek-speaking Jews of Jesus's time and was translated in the third to 2nd century B.C. They are part of what are called the Deuterocanonical books, which are considered Sacred Scripture by Catholic, Orthodox, and Assyrian Christians. We only have manuscripts of these books in Greek. Most were or were likely composed in Greek, though some may be Greek translations of a lost Hebrew manuscript.
These books were not favored by the Palestinian Jews after the advent of Christianity and the separation of Judaism and Christianity, in part, because they were only known in Greek.
Ironically, the Jews celebrate the holiday of Hanukkah, the story of which is only recorded in one of these books Jews don't even consider canonical.
For more information, you can read the book:
Eric
|